Matthew Albert Bayfield (1852–1922) was an English classical scholar, educator, and clergyman. Born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, he studied classics at Clare College, Cambridge, before embarking on a career in education. He taught at Malvern College, where he composed the school song "Carmen Malvernense," and later served as headmaster of Eastbourne College and Christ College, Brecon. In addition to his educational roles, Bayfield was ordained as an Anglican clergyman and later served as the rector of Hertingfordbury in Hertfordshire.\n\nAs a scholar, Bayfield was highly regarded for his contributions to classical studies and literary analysis. He collaborated with prominent academics such as Walter Leaf and A. W. Verrall to produce numerous commentaries on the works of classical Greek dramatists and poets, including Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides. Later in his career, he turned his attention to the mechanics of English poetry, publishing The Measures Of The Poets (1919) and A Study of Shakespeare's Versification (1920), which analyzed poetic meter and structure.\n\nAlongside his classical and clerical duties, Bayfield maintained a deep interest in spiritualism and parapsychology. He rejected materialism, arguing that Christianity was fundamentally a spiritualistic religion. This conviction led him to join the Society for Psychical Research. He developed a friendship with the physicist and psychical researcher William F. Barrett, assisting him by proofreading his book On the Threshold of the Unseen.
